Chapter Three
Well, fuck me.
Not only did it turn out that she wasn’t going to be able to avoid Mr. Tall, Dark, and Fuckable as she had hoped—it seems as though she assaulted her mate and the Ruling Alpha for B.C. all in one blow last night. Things like this simply just did not happen to anyone other than Bella. She could tell that Gage had felt her tension as soon as she walked in the doors to the conference room, and she knew she’d have some questions from her second once they got out of here. The only consolation was the look of equal surprise in her mate’s eyes as he recognized her. At least he hadn’t known who she was when they’d met last night.
Her entire life had been complicated. She’d been born an Alpha—which would have been a wonderful thing if she’d been born a male, but as her mom used to tell her, things happen for a reason. Leading wasn’t a choice for Sybella. It was an instinct, a compulsion. Lucky for her, her father’s genes also made her strong, and constantly having to stand up for herself growing up had forged her into a female to be reckoned with. She had to learn to be smarter, more devious, and more determined than the others who wanted to rule. Most of those males had wanted the power and prestige that comes with being Alpha. All Sybella had ever wanted was to do what she was born to do—to protect and take care of her people.
Dating had always been a disaster, with most of her boyfriends just assuming she would submit to them for no other reason other than that they were the male in the relationship. Once she’d finally become Alpha, dating was out of the question. It was impossible to trust a male’s motivations when they pursued her. The welfare of her pard was too important to chance that someone would try to make a power play through mating her. And honestly, most males just simply couldn’t handle the fact that she was usually more Alpha than they were.
Ruling Alpha, Laird Connors certainly didn’t seem to have that particular issue…
Her cat’s inner dialogue was less than helpful at this moment.
The meeting went on for about an hour or so, nothing too enthralling, a few territory disputes and updates on possible rogues spotted in a few areas. This being her first Alpha Council meeting, Sybella just listened and tried to get the lay of the land, though she’d be lying if she didn’t admit that her eyes often strayed to Laird’s face at the end of the table.
“If that’s everything on the agenda for this year, then I guess we’re done here.” He finally stood and nodded in satisfaction at those around him. “Thank you for coming.”
Sybella was about to let a huge breath of relief out until she heard his rough voice continue.
“And, Alpha Gandry, if you would stay for a moment, we need to have a word in private.”
“What’s going on?” Gage leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “He’s been staring at you the whole meeting. You want me to stay?”
Did she? Part of her did, just to try to avoid what was about to happen, but her dominant side pushed that idea away. She didn’t need a male to protect her from anything—even the awkward conversation after you’d knocked out your one-night-stand with a lamp.
“Your second will not be needed.” Laird’s tone left no room for argument.
“It’s fine, Gage. This won’t take long.” She gave him a nod, and he left still looking a little wary until finally, Laird was the only one left in the room with her.
He just stood there, staring at her.
Is he waiting for me to apologize? Yeah right.
“Nice to see you again, Alpha Connors.” She gave into the silence first, and it was almost worth it just to see how high his eyebrows lifted at her greeting.
“Nice to see me again?” he slowly stalked closer, “You knocked me out with a lamp.”
“I was just trying to avoid this awkward situation that we’re finding ourselves in right now if you must know. I regret nothing,” she snapped, just a little too defensively.
“Things wouldn’t be awkward if you hadn’t come all over my cock and then assaulted me before fleeing the scene. Now we’re going to have to come up with some elaborate lie to tell our children when they ask what our first date was like.”
How dare he be adorable! This was exactly the reason she’d fled in the first place. Now she was going to just have to tell him that she simply wasn’t interested.
“Look, Laird.” She was proud of how firm her voice sounded. “I didn’t come here looking to get involved with anyone. I just don’t have room for it in my life.”
“Looking or not, Sybella,” his eyes narrowed at her, “you are mine. We are mates, you can’t deny that.”
“I belong to no male,” she answered back, her hackles rising.
“The Goddess and I both disagree with you.” She could see his patience fading right before her eyes. “And one way or another, you will accept this. I marked you last night. I can scent your body warming for me. It already knows what it wants, so why are you fighting this?”
Her hand instantly went to the now sensitive spot on her left shoulder, and she tried not to remember how right it had felt when his teeth had slid into her and she came screaming his name. She hated that he knew that her traitorous blood heated simply from being this close to him. All she could think about was how good it felt to be in his arms, to feel him inside of her—and that was precisely why she could never be alone with him again.
“I have a job to do, same as you. I have no interest in settling down and popping out kids, or playing the little stay-at-home mate.”
“Why would you think—”
The door suddenly burst open with a panicked Jackson barreling in, his eyes wide as he searched for his Alpha.
“Laird! Barrow picked a fight with the Alpha from Victoria. I think that bear is going to kill the old coot,” he yelled. “You’d better come quick. There’s a shit-ton of bears out here!”
Laird took two quick strides to the door, but then he stopped and looked back to her as his eyes narrowed.
“You, stay here,” he commanded. “This conversation is far from over, little cat.”
With that, he ran out the door after his second.
“That’s what you think. Cats don’t sit, and cats don’t stay—you should know better than that,” she muttered to herself before Gage popped his head in the door.
“Are we done here, Boss? Shit’s getting real down in the lobby.” He followed her out the conference room, and out to the back doors. “Hey can’t we go watch? Some old as dirt wolf picked a fight with a giant bear. I’ve never seen a bear eat a dog before.”
“Eww, Gage, no we can’t stay to watch.” She held her hand out for the truck keys, and he reluctantly gave them over. “Our business is done here, and we’ve got a three-and-a-half-hour drive home. Get in—oh, and find me a Starbucks on our way out of here on your phone.”
She may have slept like shit last night, and narrowly avoided a shotgun mating this morning—but at least this little trip had access to good coffee.
“So … are you gonna tell me what the hell happened back there?” Gage asked after the third time she’d rolled the window down to yell at the car in front of them. “You seem … tense. And if I’m not mistaken, your scent has changed.”
That last part of his comment had her pulling back from the road rage she’d been experiencing. They were only just passing through Vancouver, a mere two hours into their trip home from Whistler, and her cat had been yowling in her head the entire time, complaining about getting farther away from their mate. For the first time in her life, Bella found herself at odds with her animal side, and it was making her a little crazy. She glanced over to Gage, wondering if she should just come clean about what happened between her and Laird.
“Well, I may have, sort of slept with Laird Connors last night, and now he thinks that I’m his mate.”
“Jesus, Bella.” Gage ran a hand over his face before he looked back at her. “He marked you, didn’t he? That’s why your scent has changed.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t want a mate, and he can just deal with it.”
She wasn’t expecting Gage to outright laugh at her.
“He can just ‘deal with it’, she says.” Then he muttered under his breath, “I’m sure he will.”